Congo-TV, the state-owned TV station of Congo-Brazzaville I'm
monitoring here in Kinshasa, is continuing broadcasting local
Christian soukouss video clips in a loop, interrupted now and then by
official communiqués (among several other communiqués, those related
to a curfew around the perimeter of the Mpila armored regimental
barracks in eastern Brazzaville where the ammunition depot exploded
and in the business district, and a communique on the locations of
improvised shelters for IDPs), footage of devastation in the Mpila
neighborhood, news related to the deadly Sunday blasts, appearances by
Brazzaville mayor Hugues Ngouélondélé (who claimed the blasts reminded
him of the "events of September 11 in New York"!) and the country's
Information Minister and government spokesman Bienvenu Okiemi (who
just announced that a national mourning has been decreed) and an
interview in French and Lingala given on Monday by Congo-Brazza Prez
Denis Sassou-Nguesso.
In his interview, Prez Sassou-Nguesso deplored the loss of life of
Congolese citizens, speculated that the blasts might have been caused
by the scorching heat of the season--on Sunday evening, Information
Minister Bienvenu Okiemi said that, pending the results of the
unfolding investigation, military experts have a working hypothesis
that the explosions might have been sparked by an electrical
short-circuit--and said that the wounded are being taken care of by
the government and that victims' families will be compensated for the
loss of life of their loved ones and for the destroyed property. (How
the government would rebuild the sprawling neighborhood entirely wiped
out by the blasts is anybody's guess.)
He also reminded reporters that his government had already been
planning on moving army barracks outside city limits; and as the
"inevitable" has occurred, the authorities are now speeding up the
move. The money has just been earmarked by the Finance Minister, he
said, and construction companies identified.
Sassou-Nguesso finally warned Brazzavillois "deviants" who'd be
tempted to take advantage of the devastation to engage in "negative
actions" that they'd feel the full brunt of the "Force Publique," the
police security forces.
Television footage featured scenes of pandemonium during the
spectacular blasts as crowds were fleeing shrapnel and fire raining
down, the apocalyptic destruction of the Mpila neighborhood, the
missile hit the Mpila thermal power station sustained, and the visit
to the wounded at various hospitals by Prez Sassou-Nguesso.
(On a personal note: Contacted by phone, my nephew Alain, a crewmember
of a passenger ferry and a Brazzaville resident, reassured our family
by telling us he was unscathed. However, there's still no official
mention on both banks of the Congo River of casuaties among the other
thousands of Congo-Kinshasa citizens residing in Brazza.)
DRC Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba crossed yesterday the
half-mile stretch of the Congo River to meet Congo-Brazzaville Prez
Sassou-Nguesso and deliver DRC aid to its neighbors--aid consisting of
5 ambulances and one mobile hospital, 21 physicians as well as the
availability of 5 Kinshasa hospitals to treat the wounded. (France and
Morocco have also substantially contributed medical supplies and
personnel as well as tents for the IDPs.)
Talking to reporters after meeting Prez Sassou-Nguesso, Thambwe
Mwamba, whose own Kinshasa office suffered some damages in the blasts,
said it would've been "indecent" for him to bring up at the meeting
the minor damages sustained by Kinshasa after being shown by Prez
Sassou-Nguesso photographs of the devastation.
2) Double-cross within Presidential Majority
As political parties are busy bending themselves to securing the
oncoming premiership, there are now visible instances of double-cross
within the fractious alliance of the Presidential Majority--a deadly
stampede by politicos jockeying for positions in government and
parastatal companies. Which evidences the fact that the corruption and
neopatrimonialism of the Mobutu regime corruption has perhaps
metastasized to a terminal condition.
The first victim of this bloody fratricidal war seems to be former
Speaker and PPRD Secretary General Evariste Boshab. Just days after
Radio-Trottoir lined him up as the likely "formateur" of the oncoming
government, a lone union member of the personnel of the National
Assembly came out of the woodwork to accuse the outgoing speaker of
embezzling salaries of parliamentary staffers.
Now, as it turned out, Boshab, as speaker, was nowhere near the
financial offices of the National Assembly. The elected official at
the National Assembly in charge of finances is the Questor, whose
books, by the way, are impeccable!
It now appears that that union member wasn't a whistle-blower, but a
hitman hired by Boshab's enemies within his own political cartel to
block what they saw as his rise to premiership.
Having failed in that insidious move, PPRD's allies-qua-mortal enemies
have now come out in the open toting statistical big guns.
They first accuse Kabila's PPRD to have manufactured, prior to the
general elections, a host of tiny satellite political parties, thus
morphing into a "mosaic" of parties. The move was crafted so as to
confuse voters for whom the label of the ruling PPRD party might have
become unattractive.
Despite this maneuver, they point out, the PPRD "mosaic" garnered less
than 150 seats, far too short of the 251 seats--the absolute
majority--needed to dictate its will to the rest of the parties of the
Presidential Majority (PPRD won 62 seats, followed by MSR party with
31 MP-elects).
On paper, the Presidential Majority is a formidable force in the new
National Assembly with 342 seats out of the total of 500 seats. But,
as this wrangling shows, the Presidential Majority could just be a
paper tiger!
3) CENI at Zelenograd, Russia
If there's a damning symbolism of the "rounding up of the usual
suspects" CENI could have avoided, it was this one.
At the invitation of the Central Election Commission of the Russian
Federation, CENI Chair Rev Daniel Ngoy Mulunda and a delegation of the
DRC electoral commission played the role of unaccredited election
observers on Sunday, March 4, at Zelenograd--the Russian Silicon
Valley, some 20 km or so from Moscow.
According to newswires, Rev Mulunda touched down in Moscow on February
29 and was immediately received by Vladimir E. Churov, Chairman of the
Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation.
Just as in the DRC after the publication of presidential results,
western election observers unanimously decried massive irregularities
in the Sunday presidential election in Russia.
4) A dog screwed Obama's mom!
Some of you guys may have already enjoyed this witty email joke
Montana Chief U.S. District Judge Honorable Richard Cebull shared with
some of buddies by the end of last month.
Hon. Cebull wrote:
"A little boy said to his mother; 'Mommy, how come I'm black and
you're white?' His mother replied, 'Don't even go there Barack! From
what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!'"
The joke doesn't end there.
On March 1, the ever jocose Honorable Cebull then composed another
email joke--this time mirthfully addressed to Obama "hizzself."
In that email, Hon. Cebull typed the following sequel to his joke
while unsuccessfully trying to contain his irresistible merriment:
"I sincerely and profusely apologize to you and your family for the
email I forwarded. I accept full responsibility; I have no one to
blame but myself. I can assure you that such action on my part will
never happen again."
Wow! This is brilliant--this kinda jokes with dramatic sequels. A new
genre altogether... And what does Hon. Cebull mean by "forwarded"? Did
Hon. Cebull or didn't Hon Cebull author the joke? What kinda bullshit
is that?
Anyhoo, this is a barroom joke that runs like this, "A dog fucked
Obama's slutty mom... Not!!!"
A lame adaptation by me, no doubt...
My bet is that Hon. Cebull is an ultraconservative Republican
contributor and a big contributor to nutty presidential hopefuls Rick
Santorum and Newt Gingrich...
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